What to Know when Starting your Healing Journey
Beginning to heal is a scary idea for most people. They imagine how uncomfortable it will be to open up. They fear being judged. They might fear what others will think of them if they found out they were seeing a healer to support their mental, emotional, and spiritual health. It amazes me in this day and age, we still have stigmas around going to seeking support. There are a lot of barriers people face when getting help with their Mental and emotional Health.
Here are somethings it can be helpful to know before working with a Healing guide:
There are many different types of healers and they generally have training in specific problems a client might face, such as an Somatic practices, or grief counseling. The process of healing can look very different depending on the Healer and their internal lens. So, if you are wanting to start your healing journey consider what you want to work on and then find a guide who specializes in that area. Even people who specialize in Spiritual and energetic healing, like me, have many different ways of working within these areas. Some healing guides might utilize Reiki, while another might focus on the Internal Family Systems model to heal soul wounds. Consider what you are looking for and what might be best for you.
When starting your healing journey things can get worse before they get better. This is normal, and no, you are not doing anything wrong. This is because many people have been avoiding certain emotions and experiences for many years. They are finding it’s getting harder to suppress it all, and this is why they are seeking healing and support. Upon starting, things get worse, because we start to work through the stock pile of things that have been avoided and/or suppressed for years. We start to explore areas that have been avoided due to feeling scared or ashamed of them. This isn’t comfortable, but it starts to get better as we work through all that has built up. For many people discussing these vulnerable topics is not what they have seen modeled in a healthy way. Many people received the conditioning to not share your pain, to not be vulnerable, that it is in fact weakness, to do so. When starting to heal and opening up, it can feel new and awkward as a result. We fear being a burden to others and start to feel more anxiety about our ‘secrets’ being exposed. In time, when we build up rapport and trust with the healing guide, these fears should dissipate and make opening up much easier.
Working with a Healer is a collaborative process. It is a journey you go on together. Your guide will work with you to support your goals and healing, depending on your specific needs. You are a crucial part of the process and must be willing to engage meaningfully if you want to see your life change, find more inner peace, and/or heal from a specific event. We need you to also take an active role in your progress. No Healer can or should provide you with all the answers, but rather empower you to find the answers within. We are here to help you discover the blocks to your happiness and accepting yourself. We can’t do it for you.
Your Guide is there to help, not judge. Most Healers get in the field because they genuinely care about others. We are not here to judge you. Likewise, it is important to be honest. It’s hard to help if we don’t know the truth. We care about your well-being and we want to see you do well in your life. I thoroughly enjoy my job and the “work” I get to do in the world. I adore the clients I get the privilege to work with and to see their progress. I know I get to see people in very vulnerable ways, sometimes getting to see sides of people they never show others. It is a great honor to me that my clients feel safe showing me these parts of them, and I never take that lightly or for granted.
Healing can be hard, but it’s also incredibly meaningful and can give you more freedom from your pain. Healing is not an easy process. It takes time and commitment to change if you want life to be different or to feel different. It can be uncomfortable to share parts of yourself with a Healer, who is a stranger at first. Doing so, however, will allow you to explore yourself and your challenges through an unbiased source who can help you find the clarity you’re seeking or make decisions around your life.
Healers will meet you where you are. We are here to support you and the goals you have for yourself. We don’t have an ulterior motive for what you ‘should’ be working on, and we are trained to meet each person as they are. I don’t expect anyone to come to me completely put together or having all their needs met. Otherwise they likely wouldn’t be seeking out support. It’s okay to be disheveled. It’s okay to not know where to start. It’s okay to feel like your life is falling apart. It’s okay to curse. There is no topic that is unacceptable to discuss during our sessions. Don’t be afraid to ask me if it is okay to discuss something if you are nervous about it. Don’t be afraid to ask questions or express your needs.
Anxiety is normal. You are not bad for having anxiety. Having anxiety does not make you less worthy of love, kindness, compassion, safety…There are ways to manage your anxiety and I can teach you many skills to better manage stressors in your day to day. I help you learn how to treat your anxiety like a very paranoid best friend who, ultimately has your best interest at heart, but often misreads the situation.
I hope this was helpful to you and can set you at ease when starting, or deepening, your healing journey for the first or fifth time. Even if it is something you have undertaken before, that doesn’t mean it won’t be scary to work with someone new or on a new area in your life you haven’t explored before. Trust yourself and the process that wants to unfold. Learn more about starting healing and empowering sessions with me here.
Sarah Seraphina is a Spiritual Activator and Liberation Guide. She is the owner of Nurtured Essence, a healing space, aimed at helping women overcome their past patterns and fears, so they may thrive and live with more power, purpose, ease, and joy. She specializes in working with healers, recovering empaths and “Damsels in Distress”, highly-sensitive women, lightworkers, and women with a sacred mission.
